For senior Golkar Party politician and former General Elections Commission (KPU) member Mahadi Sinambela, Oct. 26, 1999 marks one of the most memorable days of his political career.

Mahadi, who served as youth and sports minister under former president Abdurrahman '€œGus Dur'€ Wahid between 1999 and 2000, said he was at KPU headquarters the day Gus Dur was scheduled to announce his Cabinet lineup, when suddenly an assistant to then Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung contacted him and told him to keep an eye on the news.

'€œI was too shy to follow the news from the office. So, I went to the nearest Padang restaurant with a TV and watched the Cabinet announcement from there,'€ Mahadi, now 67, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday with a burst of laughter.

Mahadi said he did not meet with Gus Dur prior the announcement of the Cabinet lineup.

'€œPerhaps he appointed me [as minister] because we had known each other personally since 1975,'€ said Mahadi, who only spent eight months in his ministerial post after Gus Dur decided to shrink the number of his ministers amid mounting criticism of his leadership performance.  

Former defense minister Mahfud MD had an interesting experience with Gus Dur too. When he was informed of his appointment, he thought that he would be named minister of pertanahan (land affairs), but was then shocked when Gus Dur told him to be his minister of pertahanan (defense).

Fuad Bawazier, who was finance minister in former president Soeharto'€™s last Cabinet before his fall on May 21, 1998, recalled that Soeharto only spoke with him over the phone for less than one minute to inform him of his appointment.

'€œIt was 7 a.m. when Pak Harto'€™s adjutant contacted me on my cell phone and told me to be ready to receive a call from the president. A few minutes later, Pak Harto called and asked whether I was ready to join his Cabinet. Our conversation was straightforward,'€ Fuadi said.

'€œHe [Soeharto] kept detailed track records of all the prospective [ministerial] candidates to ensure that he picked the right people for the posts,'€ he said.

Megawati Soekarnoputri, who took over the presidency from Gus Dur in 2001, needed 18 days to complete her Cabinet lineup '€” the longest ever in the country'€™s presidential history. Her Cabinet was often referred to as the '€œdream team'€ Cabinet, as it included former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, former vice president Boediono, and current Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Democratic Party chief patron and former president Yudhoyono announced his Cabinet lineup just one day after his presidential inauguration.

Meanwhile, University of Indonesia political observer Chusnul Mariyah suggested that President Jokowi speed up his Cabinet announcement as another delay would make him look like an indecisive leader.

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